Special Edition • Morrow County Fair and Rodeo • Heppner Gazette-Times. Wednesday. August 9. 2006 - Page 15
Morrow County Fair timeline
1913 First Morrow
County Fair was held in the America) program became
area of what is now the park an integral part o f rural
and museum on Main Street. . county fairs. Participation
There were 200 entries of included livestock and shop
livestock and land products, projects, judging contests,
demonstrations and tractor
no premiums were paid.
d
riv in g c o n tests. Pole
1915 Paid out
$1,500 in premium money. building sheds were erected
Fair held in early September. to accommodate livestock
1918 In January the exhibits for both open class
First Oregon State Extension and youth. Volunteer labor
Office was established in was contributed by ranchers
Heppner. The 4-H program and farmers.
1939 County Fair in
began in the early 1900’s
Heppner
became an annual
under the supervision of the
event
after
it was relocated
Extension Service. Lucy
to
the
present
day rodeo/fair
R ogers,
then
school
site. Old wooden buildings
su p e rin te n d e n t,
w as
from
the CCC site were
instrumental in helping to
converted
into space for fair
activate the county’s 4-H
exhib
its
and
becam e the
program.
permanent site.
1919 County-w ide
1942-1945 No Fair
participation was noted as
was
held
for three years
Irrig o n w on first in
during
World
War II
com m unity exhibits, and
1946
A
wooden bam
Boardman was awarded the
building became the site of
best school exhibit.
the
newly formed Wrangler
1920 Boardman had
R
iding
C lub; the club
its First commercial Fair in
managed
a horse show in
September; exhibits were
conjunction
with the fair
then sent express to Salem
for the State Fair. It was the activities.
1949 B eef and
only County Fair that year.
Sheep
Building
built.
Fairs in the south end of the
1952
Brought
about
co u n ty
w ere
held
b
e
tte
r
e
x
h
ib
it
space,
intermittently for a number
construction of a large cinder
of years.
block building, (pavilion). A
1922 R odeo area
was established when L. V. wooden dance floor was also
Gentry donated that site for installed for rodeo dances,
community events and other
ro d eo s. The ad jo in in g
activ ities throughout the
f a i r g r o u n d s
year. Had expanded area of
a cc o m m o d a tio n s cam e
interest, in addition to home
about w hen the co u n ty
econom
ics, land products
traded the block on Main
Street to the city of Heppner and livestock classes; flower
in e x ch an g e fo r the c ra fts , arts and hobby
in te re sts w ere added.
d isb an d e d
C iv ilia n
R estroom s and d ressin g
C o n serv atio n C orps site
room
s built, used during
(workers had been housed in
fo o tb a ll and b aseb all
barrack buildings).
seasons, as well as rodeo and
1923-1930 County
fair.
E xten sio n
agent and
1954 F airs in the
volunteers stage the fair.
north
end
of the county were
County court then appointed
discontinued
when it became
a three-person fair board to
a state law limiting one fair
oversee activities.
1937 Beginning of per county.
1955 D orm itory
FFA (F uture F arm ers o f
b u ilt
fo r
o v ern ig h t
accommodations for those
youth exhibitors living some
distance from the fair.
1961 4-H snack
shack was b u ilt on the
grounds to provide meals for
fairgoers and a source of
revenue for 4-H programs by
using volunteer labor.
1965 More livestock
exhibit space was needed; a
steel enclosed bam building
was erected. Bleachers seats
inside were added in 1966.
Though limited in space this
barn
b u ild in g
has
accom m odated numerous
h o rse -re la te d
ev en ts,
including cow cutting and
other events throughout the
years. A dditional outside
show rings were added.
1968
A
south
g ran d stan d was b u ilt to
rep lace an old w ooden
structure. A large portion of
the rodeo area was seeded
to
g ra ss,
thus
acco m m o d atin g school
sports, summer baseball and
o th e r ev en ts. 1986 re
carpeted.
1975
B uilding
converted from W rangler
R iding C lub to house a
collection of antique farm
equipment donated to the
county by Harold Peck. It is
now dow n by the Farm
Museum.
1983 Fair grow th
necessitated installation of
sewer lines; by hooking up
to the city sew er system
outdated septic tanks were
eliminated.
1985 Trailer house
donated by county court to
help with overcrowding.
1996 A Five member
fair board was expanded to
seven m em bers, as fair
interest continued to grow.
1997 Building and
m oving o f rodeo area to
smaller profession size rodeo
arena and permanent steel
spectator seating was added;
which was instigated by the
ro d eo
co m m ittee.
C om m unity support and
v o lu n te e r lab o r helped
Finance new lighting for the
g ro u n d s
to
p ro v id e
illumination for nighttime
rodeo events and football
games. Additional parking
areas for the rodeo were
accomplished by Filling in an
area
a d jo in in g
those
grounds.
1999 Through many
v o lu n te e r
ho u rs
and
fundraising the Wilkinson
Arena was built to be used
for 4-H and open class
livestock exhibits. O ther
tim es o f the y ear it is
available to the public for
barrel racing, roping or just
riding. ‘
2001
FFA
discontinued in the county.
2005 FFA started
again in Irrig o n and
Boardman.
2007 FFA will be in
Heppner again.
Lots o f good food at the fa ir
Along with the 4-H Snack Shack at the fair, outside
will be Fernando's Mexican Food from Hermiston with
delicious enchiladas, burritos, tacos, and much more. The
new Shaved Ice vendor coming will be Ron and Judy Peters
from California and they have over 20 flavors to choose
from. Come and have a cool treat this year!
A nother outside favorite is elephant ears; the
Carrillo’s from Milton-Freewater will also have ice cream
desserts available. This year M urray’s Drug will have
espresso bar drinks - hot and cold. Inside you can have a
slice of pizza from Howe’s About Pizza. We hope to see
you at the Fair where you can get just about any kind of
food.
W ru n yle r COW IIOH Itreahinsl
ul the Morrow Countu lu iryrounds
Sunduy. A u o u sl
20 0:00 a . m . - f
l : M a .m .
X 1.1.00 iuntil if • S.1.00 udulls
S3.00 for 12 und under
V’j n c jU r*. H a m . fififx. Hashknuntx. f offer. .M ilk